HYDERABAD: The Yellama Cheruvu, a 24-acre lake near Kukatpally, is on the verge of extinction. In the last few years alone, the water body has shrunk by close to 50 per cent of its original size, due to illegal encroachments in and around the area. With land filling activity, for construction of residential complexes, still on near the lake, locals fear that the Yellama Cheruvu might soon disappear from Hyderabad's map.

Intriguingly, even the catchment area of the lake has been filled to make way for private apartments, being built by a leading real estate firm from the city. The construction company has taken over close to seven acres of the Cheruvu to develop an entire residential colony complete with a badminton court and park. While the houses are still under construction the badminton court is already functional.

This apart, another seven-eight acres of the water body has been illegally filled by a municipal contractor to build a housing society for lower income groups. While construction work at this site has been temporarily stalled, following a High Court order, residents of the locality claim that it is only an eye-wash. According to them, land filling activity is still on, but on the sly. "Labourers have been bringing huge boulders and dumping them into the water body in the night. They have also been undertaking some construction work during the same time," said G Balaswamy, a resident of the adjoining Jayanagar colony and general secretary of the area's welfare association that has now taken upon itself to protect the lake.

While the site bore no sign of any activity on Friday, the area was filled with heaps of sand and stones. On inquiring, it was found that some labourers, employed by the contractor, were indeed on the job of filling up a portion of the lake. "Machines are also seen here occasionally. I think they are used for the same purpose," said a local.

Residents rue that despite repeated complaints to the concerned authorities little has been done to check this illegal activity. From the governor to officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the local mandal revenue officer, residents have approached everybody in power, but to no avail. "GHMC took up the case of the contractor and appealed in the High Court to stall the work. But that has not helped. They need to take strict action now," said D Venugopal, a Kukatpally resident adding, "Our complaint about the other private developer has fallen on deaf ears. That work is going on uninterrupted."

When contacted GHMC officials said that the private construction firm had the required permission for the work. They even denied all charges about the land being part of the water body. "The site is at a distance from the catchment area and is not an encroachment," said Khalid Sarwar who was the assistant city planner of Kukatpally until recently. While Sarwar feigned ignorance on the status of the other encroachment, the local MRO came out in support of thecontractor. "It is a housing society project for weaker sections, the plan for which was sanctioned several years ago. As the area was not specifically defined in that sanction (the lake was not marked), some problems have crept up now," said Balanagar mandal MRO, Vanaja Devi, who is also in-charge of the Yellama Cheruvu.

HYDERABAD: Parkwood School International has constructed academic and hostel buildings illegally without taking permission from the gram panchayat of Manneguda where the educational institution is located. The school management, which has been reportedly collecting nearly Rs three lakh fee from each student, has not been paying property tax for nearly 1.5 lakh square feet (sft) built up area to the gram panchayat since its inception in 2003.

"The school management was slapped notices to show building plans and also pay property tax for structures that were constructed on its premises," Ranga Reddy district panchayat officer ES Naik told STOI.

Officials said the school has five blocks (buildings) on 32-acre land. It has a main academic building (ground and two floors) with 60,000 sq ft built up area. The academic building has 48 classrooms on each floor. The educational institution has three hostel buildings (G+2 floors), two for boys and another for girls. Another building was raised with three floors for staff quarters. A spacious dinning hall has also been constructed on the school premises.

As per the building rules, buildings up to ground and two floors or 10 metres can be permitted by gram panchayat of the concerned village. If the building height is more than 10 metres and two floors, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) has to accord the necessary building permission.

"The school management has claimed they took permission for the main academic building in 2003, but there are no records either of permission or payment of building fee with the panchayat office. Similarly, other buildings were constructed without taking permission from the gram panchayat," panchayat secretary C Jayamma told STOI.

One building has a penthouse on the top floor, where Parkwood School director Mohd S Ayub was said to be staying illegally, the secretary added.

All the school blocks have built up area of nearly 1.5 lakh square feet and property tax was not paid since their construction. The main building has about 60,000 sq ft built up area, three hostel buildings each have about 23,000 sq ft each, while another building for staff quarters has 25,000 sq ft and the dining hall about 16,000 sq ft space.

"Notices were served on the school management thrice in the last two years to carry out assessment of structures and get property tax dues. But the school management did not allow our panchayat staff and mandal development office staff to get into the premises," Jayamma added.

Following a notice, two days ago, the school principal allowed the staff to make assessment of the buildings, the panchayat secretary said.

Manneguda panchayat, which has a population of about 10,000, gets about Rs 6,000 towards property tax every year. If the Parkwood School pays property tax, the small civic body might get over Rs 50,000 per year, which could be used for providing better civic amenities in Manneguda.

HYDERABAD: If there is one Hyderabad-based firm apart from the scam-hit Satyam and Maytas that has been dogged by controversy for over a year now, it is infrastructure player Nagarjuna Construction Company Ltd.

And that is not just because of the general perception that the Rajus of NCC, which was founded in 1978 by Alluri Venkata Satyanarayana Raju or AVS Raju as he is known, were related to disgraced Satyam and Maytas founder B Ramalinga Raju.

If last year NCC was in the news for its association with Maytas Infra, with whom the former had as many as eight joint venture projects, more recently it hit the headlines after some of the fishermen protesting against the group's 1320 mw thermal power project at Sompeta in the coastal district of Srikakulam in mid-July were killed in police firing.

The fishermen were voicing their dissent against the power plant which they felt would threaten marine life in the wetlands of the region as well as their livelihood.

To make matters worse for the company, the incident was followed by the National Environmental Apellate Authority revoking the ecological clearance given by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to the project, soon after the tragic incident.

On Friday, a high-level central committee set up by the MoEF to look into the matter made a recommendation against setting up the power plant in an ecologically sensitive site like Sompeta, where NCC has already purchased 573 acres of land from local farmers in addition to the 972 acres allotted by the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation.

The recent brouhaha has also put a spanner in the works for the company's plans to divest nearly 49% of its stake in the Sompeta project to a strategic partner to raise funds for the project.

The bad news for NCC does not end here. The group is also staring at losses from its National Games Housing Project at Jharkhand capital Ranchi, where it constructed nearly 1796 apartments for the 34th National Games that were originally scheduled to be held in November 2007 but have been postponed five times due to the political uncertainty dogging Jharkhand.

The company, which spent over Rs 250 crore on the project, and is trying to sell off the apartments through a rental-cum-sale deal after the conclusion of the Games in December this year, has also ended up in a legal mess with a local NGO -- Adivasi Unnati Samaj -- filing a PIL in the Jharkhand High Court against the Jharkhand government and NCC for inadequate compensation to land owners.

NCC's woes began in January 2009 when many of its projects floated jointly with Maytas Infra came to a grinding halt after Ramalinga Raju's confessions to cooking Satyam's accounts.

Interestingly, the promoters of NCC had more in common than just a surname with the erstwhile promoters of Maytas. NCC's promoters too had pledged a substantial chunk of their stakeholding in the company to banks and financial institutions to raise money.

NCC's promoters had pledged nearly 44.63% of their total stakeholding of 24.38% in Nagarjuna Construction as per shareholding data declared for quarter ended March 31, 2009.

This startling fact came to light after they were forced to declare the quantum of stake pledged after Sebi made it mandatory for promoters of companies to declare details of encumbered shares in the wake of the Satyam scam.

Though subsequently, NCCs promoters have reduced the component of pledged equity, over the past few months have again been on a pledging spree. Currently the promoters stake holding in NCC stands at 20.15%, of which 10.38% was pledged as per June 30, 2010 shareholders data made available on BSE. The stake of FIIs and FIs has in the meantime risen to 50.54% from 46.69% in June 30, 2009.

While NCC's holding company AVSR Holding Pvt Ltd holds 7.04% stake in the company, all of which is unencumbered, the remaining 12.75% promoter stake is held by a number of family members.

Incidentally, while on the NSE the company has shown only 8.64% of promoter equity as pledged as of June 30, 2010, on the BSE it has declared 10.38% of the total promoter equity of 20.15% as pledged.

The company also has on its board 'big bull' Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who along with his wife Rekha holds nearly 6% stake in the company. US-based FII Blackstone too has invested over $100 million in the company and currently holds around 8.33% stake.

NCC also boasts of independent directors like retired Union power secretary P Abraham, who has recently been appointed as principal secretary to AP chief minister K Rosaiah.

The company also has on its board independent directors like former Lloyd Steel Industries CEO S Venkatachalam, former Canara Bank CMD RV Shastri as well as ex-CEO of Emaar AJ Jaganathan.

Founded by AVS Raju, who hails from the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, the company is now run by his son A Ranga Raju and claims to be among the top 5 construction companies in India with a turnover of around Rs 5900 crore, an order book of Rs 148 billion and nearly 4000 employees.

Listed on NSE and BSE in 1992, with GDRs listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange in 1995, the company started off with building and housing projects in 1978, and has since ventured into transportation, water and environment, irrigation, electrical works and over the past five years into oil & gas, metals, mining, power and railways.

HYDERABAD: The Cyberabad police on Saturday rescued two-year-old Seetha Ramaraju, who was kidnapped on Thursday night for ransom, from an isolated house near Gandimaisamma crossroads and arrested three persons, including the boy's maternal uncle, on Saturday.

According to police, the boy's uncle (mother's brother) A Venkata Srikanth, 31, and his associates D Venkata Sathya Santha Kumara Raju, 20 and M Rajesh, 19 were arrested for the kidnapping.

Police stumbled on clues after quizzing the family members, specially Srikant. When they grilled him, he admitted to the kidnapping and revealed the hideout at Bahadurpally near Gandimaisamma crossroads where the child was being held.

A case was booked under sections 363, 364(A), 506, 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)d against the trio.

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Goods Transport Association has decided not to participate in the proposed indefinite strike called by truckers.

All India Motor Transport Congress and South India Motor Transport Association have given the strike call to protest the increase in fuel prices. They are also demanding rationalisation of toll taxes and removal of anti-dumping duty on tyres.

"It is not a conducive time to go ahead with the strike as inflation is at its peak and the common man is suffering," the association said in a release issued here on Saturday.

GUNTUR: Amidst protests by Left activists, chief minister K Rosaiah laid the foundation stone for the Chinese footwear manufacturing unit Apache at Pottur on the outskirts of Guntur city on Saturday.

Several Left activists who were protesting the government's grant of land for free to the footwear giant were taken into preventive custody.

In an attempt to clear the air over the land issue, Rosaiah said it was the government's responsibility to encourage an atmosphere where industrialists could invest for the overall development of the state. "The government alone cannot create opportunities for the next generations. We need industries to meet the demand for employment, and industrial growth will only help settle the issues," he said.

He said the Apache plant would create jobs for about 3,000 locals once it starts production in nine months' time. The company would be investing nearly Rs 200 crore for the plant through which the state government would also get some tax revenue, he added.

Earlier, addressing a national seminar conducted by the cotton industry in Guntur, Rosaiah suggested to industrialists to come out with concrete proposals to get clearances from the government. Rosaiah hoped that Guntur would develop as a hub of textile industry keeping in view the availability of raw material and manpower. "We should emulate a small country like Sri Lanka which not only is producing world-class cotton but has also become a major exporter of garments," the CM said. He suggested that the textile millers should try to set up garment industries in and around Guntur to reap rich benefits.

Later in the evening, Rosaiah participated in a Youth Congress-sponsored Palleku Podam programme at Tubadu village in Nadendla mandal. There he reiterated that the government was committed to carry forward all the schemes launched by late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Ministers Kanna Lakshminarayana, Gade Venkata Reddy, Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, Dokka Manikya Varaprasad, D K Aruna, Union minister of state for textiles Panabaka Lakshmi were present. The CM also laid a foundation stone for the construction of SP (urban) office at the district police office in the presence of DGP R R Girish Kumar.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A social studies teacher was suspended for alleged sexual harassment of students at the Andhra University High School here on Saturday.

Pradeep (45) of Andhra University Telugu Medium High School reportedly physically harassed girls of Class 8 to Class X students, and even took some students to his house in the guise of giving them tuitions.

The matter came into light when a tenth standard girl of Peda Waltair complained to headmistress Lalitha Kumari, who informed the Women's Grievances and Redressal Cell in Andhra University.

Pradeep, also the NCC in-charge in the school, is a native of Srikakulam. It is learnt that the teacher was warned by the headmistress at a staff meeting a few months ago when a girl lodged a similar complaint against him. But he did not mend his ways.

The Grievance Cell members visited the school and enquired about the matter and submitted a report to the higher authorities. Pradeep was suspended by the AU authorities on Saturday. Strangely, however, the matter was not reported to the police.

GUNTUR: Chief minister K Rosaiah on Saturday said that the state government is committed to support the education needs of each and every genuine student in the state.

Addressing students at Acharya Nagarjuna University, the chief minister, however, blamed a section of the students for fomenting trouble in the state in the name of delayed scholarships. He also alleged that some students resorted to fraudulent means to avail three to four scholarships in different educational institutions for different studies at the same time. "We have received many complaints in this regard. The government will release the funds after a thorough scrutiny," the CM said.

Expressing displeasure at the student unions that tried to gherao him and obstruct his convoy during his visit to the University, Rosaiah said they should instead focus on their studies.

"I hope you people agree that a few should not pocket the benefits of the entire programme. It should help each and every genuine and eligible student," he told the students. The government has ordered release of scholarships only after due verification and brought in several changes in the guidelines of the programme, the CM said.

The CM said a Cabinet sub-committee had been set up to look into the malpractices in allotment of government funds in the guise of scholarships and fee-reimbursement programme and that the committee would review the implementation once every three months. He promised to personally monitor the release of funds.

Stressing the need for improvement of infrastructure in the educationalinstitutions including Universities, Rosaiah said the government was taking all measures for betterment of the existing facilities. "The grant of scholarships alone will not help you get better studies in the colleges. You need good faculty, good class rooms, good libraries and good environment."

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated several buildings in the ANU constructed at a cost of Rs.7.1 crore. Then, he proceeded to Auto Nagar near Guntur where he laid a foundation stone for the new drinking water scheme and formally laid the foundation stone for a second water pipeline to meet the drinking water needs of Guntur city.

Mild tension prevailed in the campus before the arrival of the chief minister as some students under the aegis of AISF and PDSU organisations tried to obstruct the CMs convoy in protest against delay in the release of scholarships and funds for fee-reimbursement. However, the students were rounded up by the cops before the arrival of the CM convoy.

HYDERABAD: In a move to increase its revenues, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) will start imposing a levy on consumers having only sewer connections and not water connections. The levy will slapped with effect from August 1.

Based on a survey at division level in the city and surrounding municipal circles last November, the Water Board found that nearly 4,000 consumers, including multi-storied residential complexes, hotels, private hospitals, cinemas and function halls, were utilising the sewer network without paying any fee.

"The government has cleared the proposal to impose sewerage cess on consumers who do not have tap connection, but utilise sewer network. The Water Board prepared the tariff levels by taking the plinth area into consideration as per GHMC sanctioned plan/actual construction, whichever is higher," HMWS&SB managing director M Jagadeeshwar told STOI.

The Water Board, however, has exempted consumers (domestic individuals), whose plinth area is 80 square (sq) meters (mts).

The Water Board has fixed Rs 50 sewerage cess per flat in multi-storied residential complexes. For multi-storied complexes (non-domestic), commercial complexes and shopping malls, the sewerage cess has been fixed at Rs 50 per flat or 186 sq mts (2,000 sft) plinth area whichever is less.

The new sewerage tariff would be incorporated in bills being issued to customers from August 1. With the implementation of the new sewerage tariff, the Water Board hopes to get nearly Rs 10 crore revenue per month, the official added.

HYDERABAD: The three-tier-system through which the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) thought of providing transparent and quick online services to the customers is proving to be counterproductive due to several glitches in the software.

Rokade Manohar's transport driving licence expired in 2003. He did not apply for a renewal in stipulated five year time limit due to personal reasons and on April 15, 2010 applied for a retest at Tirumalgherry RTO office and the official forwarded the same to Nagole test track. He then passed the driving test on June 3 at Nagole test track but the concerned centre could not update his data and issue him fresh licence as the software has no `retest' feature.

Since then Manohar has made several rounds to Tirumalgherry RTO, Khairatabad head office but of no use. The officials themselves do not know what to do as Manohar can neither apply for a fresh licence due to already existing data nor can he get a renewed one due to software glitch. His livelihood got affected as cops continue to fine him for driving the vehicle without a licence.

Similar was the case with Syed Khaja Pasha of Ramnagar who had a licence to drive light motor vehicle, motor car with gear and auto rikshaw in non-transport category and an auto rikshaw in transport category, valid till October 2018.

His fate changed when he recently applied for an upgraded licence with motorcab driving permission in the list. To his surprise, on June 10, 2010 the fresh smart card driving licence came displaying only permission to drive a motorcab, which makes it illegal for him to either ride a two-wheeler or drive an auto.

In another bizarre example, Ch Ramulu applied for a renewal of his driving licence (93181994) on March 27, 2010. He got a shocker in the form of renewed licence as it displayed validity as May 14, 2009, almost an year behind his date of application.

When contacted, joint transport commissioner B Venkateswarulu said that the three-tier system is working well and they are ready to take up any complaints related to its functioning.

There are also hundreds of complaints about excess delay in dispatching of smart cards (driving licences and permanent vehicle registration cards) from the head quarters where cards pertaining to Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy RTOs get printed.

"There have been problems in finding out the correct residential address of the applicants. So, we are thinking to make it mandatory for all the applicants to mention PIN code number on the forms," the JTC said.

HYDERABAD: Its a bonanza time with the state having received the highest rainfall in the last five years this season. In fact, the rainfall expected by the Meterological department in the end of monsoon in September has almost been met in July itself. As on date, almost all the districts of Andhra Pradesh have reported excess rainfall. Only Srikakulam, Adilabad, Medak and Nizamabad received normal rainfall.

According to officials from the Met department, this year's monsoon is 44 per cent in excess. The state received 405.2 mm rainfall till Saturday when the normal rainfall was 282.3 mm. Officials say that there is a possibility that the state might get twice as much the rainfall as compared to the previous years by September this year if the conditions are favourable. "Usually, we reach the normal level in September but this year, the annual rainfall almost stands covered in the first half of the season itself," said R V Subba Rao, assistant meteorologist, Met department, Hyderabad.

Officials say that the copious rainfall in July was the result of formation of three low pressure areas over the Bay of Bengal, which ended up moving in the north westerly direction along the axis of the monsoon trough. Further, Met officials forecast that the rainfall is likely to be normal for the second half (August to September) of the 2010 southwest monsoon. The rainfall for the country as a whole during August and September is likely to be 107 per cent of long period average (of 43.7 cm) with a variation of seven per cent, they say.

The department's latest statistical models indicate that La Nina conditions, which are in general associated with normal or above normal rainfall, will continue to prevail during the remaining part of the monsoon season.

LUCKNOW: Nearly 260 people have been arrested within a fortnight in Uttar Pradesh for their alleged involvement in adulteration of vegetables, officials said on Sunday.

"During a drive by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched on the directives of the chief minister Mayawati, 309 FIR have been reigstered while 258 people have been arrested across the state for their involvement in either adulteration of eatables or selling such products", an FDA official said.

The FDA team has recovered oxytocin injections, calcium carbine - used to ripe fruits, colours and other such items in large numbers.

BHOPAL: One out of every five members of Madhya Pradesh assembly is facing criminal charges varying from minor offences to heinous ones like murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping.

A total of 42 MLAs of various political parties in the 230-member House, besides two ministers and a former minister, have criminal cases registered against them. These include seven women.

"Criminal cases of various types have been registered against a total of 42 MLAs, two ministers and a former minister of this assembly," state home minister Umashankar Gupta said in a written reply to question from Congress MLA Ranveer Jatav in the just concluded monsoon session of the assembly.

Apart from Baghel, the other Minister against whom criminal case has been registered is Public Health Engineering and Cooperative Minister Gaurishankar Bisen.

Baghel, who represents Manawar constituency in Dhar district, is facing charges under section 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 506 (threatening to kill) in a case registered against her at Manawar Police Station in Dhar district in 2009.

Baghel is the only Minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Ministry who was arrested and released during her ministership.

Bisen was booked under Section 188 of IPC for violating the Balaghat Collector's order and a case in this regard was registered against him at Kotwali Police Station in Balaghat district in 2009. This case is sub-judice.

Asha Rani, a BJP MLA from Bijawar constituency in Chhatarpur district, was booked at Kolar Road Police Station here in January this year for allegedly abetting suicide of her maidservant Tijji Bai, her abduction, keeping her as a bonded labourer and sexually abusing her.

The victim, Tijji Bai, who had sustained serious burn injuries, was found dead at the Bhopal residence of the leader in November 2007.

A case is being tried in Bhopal District Court and Asha Rani has been shown as an absconder.

A case against former Health Minister Anoop Mishra, who resigned last month amid allegations that his family members were involved in a murder case, is also sub-judice.

He has been charged with violating Collector's order besides Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act relating to ending the campaign 48 hours ahead of polls. The case is registered at Malanpur Police Station in Bhind district.

Leader of the Opposition Jamuna Devi is facing a case for disturbing law and order at Jehangirabad Police Station in Bhopal. Another Congress MLA Brajendra Singh Rathore is one of the accused in the murder of former BJP Minister Sunil Nayak and had secured an anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court before being sworn-in in the Assembly in November 2009.

Nayak, who was the BJP candidate from the Prithvipur Assembly constituency, was shot dead on the day of polling for the Assembly polls in November 2008 near Prithvipur town in Tikamgarh district.

Rathore, who was contesting from the same seat, had emerged victorious. A total of 11 persons including eight his family members are accused in this case.

Police have submitted challans in many of the cases and the criminal proceedings are on in courts.

GHAZIABAD: Four students, one of them pursuing MBA, have been arrested in connection with a dacoity in the house of a local oil trader, police said on Sunday.

The four, also including an engineering student, were allegedly involved in the dacoity in the house of Suresh Kumar Sharma, 50, in posh Sona Enclave three weeks ago. Cash and valuables estimated to be around Rs 3 lakh were looted from the family.

According to SP (Rural) M M Beg, the youths were arrested with the help of a mobile phone that they had snatched away from Sharma's wife.

"The phone was tracked when one of them used it for talking to his girl friend," the officer said.

Deepak (21), Rahul (24) Vinay (22) and Satender (20) are all locals hailing from upper middle class families. Two of them are pursuing graduation, he said.

NEW DELHI: Four youngsters, including three girls, travelling in a speeding Volkswagen hit a truck clearing debris in south Delhi on Sunday morning.

On being accosted by policemen, they quarrelled with them and also abused a TV camera crew, police said.

"The speeding car hit a truck, which was clearing the debris on Andrews Gunj road. After hitting the car, the four engaged in a quarrel and used abusive language with the police officers present at the spot," a police officer told IANS.

According to the police, the three girls abused and even tried to hit the camera crew present at the spot when they tried to film the incident.

NEW DELHI: With its network set to expand to 190 km in the national capital by September, Delhi Metro is installing video conferencing systems at all its depots and offices, which would facilitate interaction among officials, save time and increase the system's efficiency.

The video conferencing systems have been installed at three Metro depots in Delhi -- Shastri Park, Najafgarh and Khyber Pass -- which makes it easier for officials to get in touch with their bosses at the Metro Bhawan headquarters.

"The video conferencing facilities will be installed in all Metro maintenance depots and construction site offices to facilitate interaction in the Metro offices located in Delhi and the National Capital region," a DMRC spokesperson said.

This technology will also help in maintaining better international coordination among different departments of the DMRC.

DMRC officials say it will help officials stationed at depots and other offices to take quick and prompt decisions in case of any technical glitches on the trains.

"With video conferencing facility available, there is no need for the officials in other offices or depots to come to the Headquarters to take decisions. From their offices, they can talk to their seniors through video conferencing," the spokesperson said.

The method will help take quick decisions on major technical issues such as maintenance of trains, signalling, electrical and telecommunication systems, the spokesperson explained.

The Delhi Metro now traverses 125 km and carries 11 lakh people a day and is expected to travel 190 km and ferry 20 lakh people by the end of the year, when the entire Phase-II projects will be completed.

After the complete installation of the latest video conferencing set-up in the entire network, DMRC officials hope that they will able to increase their productivity in operation and maintenance.

To centralise the whole network through IT technologies, DMRC already has implemented an upgraded SAP ECC 6.0 as an Enterprise Resource Planning system to ensure better coordination among the different units of the organisation.

MALDA: At least eight policemen, including the inspector-in-charge of Kaliagunj PS in North Dinajpur, were severely injured when a mob ransacked the police station and set it on fire.

The mob outrage was the fallout of an incident on July 27 in which a local, Kishor Paswan, was injured. Though police registered an accident case, pressure was on police for registering it as an attempt to murder case. Paswan succumbed to his injuries on Saturday afternoon.

Around 6.30 pm, a 100-strong mob attacked the police station with arms to protest "police negligence" in arresting the criminals. The IC's chamber was ransacked, computers were smashed, and other property damaged. The mob then set the police station on fire. Eight policemen were seriously injured.

"We have even started a murder case on the demand of the people. But as no one was named in the FIR, no one was arrested. Then suddenly, the mob attacked the police station," said IC Swapan Dasgupta. Later, a huge police force led by the DSP came from Raigunj to control the situation.

KOLKATA: If the Met office's prediction comes true, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will have a tough time keeping the city free from going under water.

According to the Met office, heavy thundershower is expected to lash the city in the next 24 hours. The maximum temperature on Sunday is expected to be around 30? Celsius.

Monsoon arrived over Gangetic West Bengal a little late this year, but apart from a few occasional smart showers, there has not been continuous heavy rainfall in the city. It was only on Saturday that the city received heavy rain that left several parts of the city waterlogged. The Met office recorded 97 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours.

Met officials said the heavy rainfall occurred as monsoon has become fully active. An upper air trough was noticed over Chhattisgarh in the last few days which is now moving over Gangetic West Bengal and passing towards Bangladesh. This could bring heavy rains in the next 24 hours," said a Met department official.

Earlier, the delay in the onset of monsoon in south Gangetic Bengal occurred due to the impact of a cyclonic formation, which interrupted the normal progress of the monsoons across the country. This resulted in excessively hot and sultry weather conditions that continued for long. However, the monsoons had arrived much earlier in North Bengal.

KOLKATA: There is hardly any escape from waterlogging this monsoon. The warning has come from none other than mayor Sovan Chatterjee himself.

The reason he has cited is that the new Trinamool Congress civic board took over at a time (June 16) when there was no scope to modernise the city's drainage system. And, modernisation can't begin before October as it would require revamping some pumping stations of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). This can be done by rendering them idle for some time, a risk that can be taken only when there is little or no possibility of rain.

The mayor said there is a desperate need to revamp KMC's drainage pumping stations to give citizens much-needed relief from waterlogging. The civic body needs to install several heavy-duty pumps at some of the major drainage pumping stations.

"I took charge as mayor only one and a half months ago. After assuming charge, I understood that we need to replace several pumps in some major pumping stations. But we can't start the work right now. We have to wait for the dry season since the installation would take some time during which the pumping stations can't function properly," Chatterjee said. KMC drainage department sources said the civic body was ready to replace a few heavy-duty pumps at the Palmerbazar, Dhapa Lock and Ballygunge drainage pumping stations.

The KMC drainage department is gearing up to buy as many portable pumps as possible. The department currently has 240 portable pumps in store. These pumps are pressed into service after heavy rainfall in added areas such as Dum Dum, Cossipore, Behala, Jadavpur and parts of Tollygunge where there are no major drainage pumping stations to drain out the storm water.

KMC's member, mayor-in-council (drainage), Rajib Deb said the civic body was ready to deploy as many portable pumps as required in the added areas. However, Deb alleged that the irrigation department had not dredged outfall canals. Hence, waterlogging could not be averted though KMC drainage pumping stations had functioned well, he claimed.

KOLKATA: A 52-year-old resident of Howrah's Belilious Road was found murdered at Hooghly's Haripal on Saturday.

Kuldeep Singh used to work as a driver for a travel agency. Police said last Monday, two persons had hired the car to go to Tarakeswar. Two others had got into the car on the way.

Singh was supposed to return home on Monday night, but he did not. On Tuesday, when the travel agency owner called him, Singh said he was busy and switched off his phone. His body was found on the roadside in Haripal. Police have started a probe.